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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28111950">Bullet Through the Heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nathalaia/pseuds/Nathalaia'>Nathalaia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chanyeol is a bit of a disaster, Chanyeol the Witness, Chanyeol's Birthday Week 2020, I am obviously a goner for Chinaline, M/M, Modern, So many contractions, Witness Protection, Witness Protection Programme, Word limits will be my undoing, Yixing is badass, Yixing the Bodyguard, oh well</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:48:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28111950</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nathalaia/pseuds/Nathalaia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chanyeol had fallen head-over-heels in love with Yixing, the realisation dawning on him one night in bed like a bullet through the heart.</p>
<p>Albeit, come to think of it, that was perhaps not the best analogy when the man had <i>actually</i> been shot not a month ago.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Park Chanyeol/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Challenge #11 — The Suspect... is You!</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bullet Through the Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If he looked past the many things that witnessing a crime syndicate commit murder had changed for worse in his life (he’d left Seoul and his family behind, for one), he could appreciate his brand-new apartment-slash-safehouse, new friends – and Yixing. </p>
<p>Zhang Yixing.</p>
<p>Chanyeol had met him the morning after crashing on Baekhyun’s couch for fear of being alone that night in his own apartment (which, as it turned out, had been a well-founded concern: It had been ransacked overnight by gangsters). He had gone to the police with Baekhyun and had talked to a few officers about the murder he had witnessed the previous evening in some godforsaken dumpster of a street because he had been late to Chen’s stream. </p>
<p>Yixing was one of the bodyguards assigned to Chanyeol’s protection after his statement had brought in a handful of semi-high ranking gangsters of some notorious syndicate the police had been tailing for a while.</p>
<p>There were Yifan and Junmyeon, too, of course, and they were perfectly friendly, but they were not Yixing. </p>
<p>Suffice to say, he had fallen head-over-heels in love with Yixing, the realisation dawning on him one night in bed like a bullet through the heart.</p>
<p>Albeit, come to think of it, that was perhaps not the best analogy when the man had <em> actually </em> been shot not a month ago. </p>
<p>Yixing had been alone with him the evening the gangsters struck. They had been walking through a park when Yixing had suddenly gone quiet and alert. Chanyeol had had little warning before Yixing had seized his wrist and hauled him along (which – considering Chanyeol was quite a bit taller than Yixing and not <em> unfit</em>, thank you very much – had been pretty hot in retrospect).</p>
<p>Chanyeol remembered yelping when a gunshot rang through the otherwise quiet park, and Yixing upping the pace to unceremoniously shove Chanyeol behind cover. His gun was cocked and loaded, and fuck, Chanyeol was a <em> goner </em> for it.</p>
<p>He’d considered broaching that particular matter with his psychiatrist, but it would probably not do to alert her to the fact that despite startling awake several times a week in the middle of the night because of nightmares or spooking at sudden noises that reminded him of gunshots, he wasn’t nearly as concerned when it came to the gun Yixing carried around.</p>
<p>At least he had been too preoccupied at the moment to stop and appreciate the sight of Yixing handling a gun so masterfully and the way he looked, calm and confident, in the face of a bunch of gangsters with murderous intentions.</p>
<p>Yixing had not hesitated to shoot to incapacitate a few of them when they approached, but even Yixing struggled to keep Chanyeol <em> and </em>himself safe in the midst of a rain of bullets. </p>
<p>Chanyeol hadn’t even noticed Yixing had been shot until after Junmyeon and Yifan had arrived at the scene, at which point the blood had bled through Yixing’s shirt. Chanyeol had been horrified, but Yixing had only grimaced, offered a sunny smile, and promised he would be all right.</p>
<p>Oh, Chanyeol was so, so doomed.</p>
<p>Not least because he had made the poor (or wise; he had yet to decide which one) choice to tag along with Yixing to the gym.</p>
<p>Yixing was running the treadmill while Chanyeol halfheartedly sat by the dumbbells and tried (and failed) to not stare too obviously at the way Yixing’s sweat made the wifebeater cling to his toned body. A gunshot to the shoulder he may have suffered, but Yixing would be damned if it held him back from working out. </p>
<p>“I need to stay fit to protect you,” he had said when Chanyeol had expressed some concerns, and he’d <em> winked</em>.</p>
<p>Chanyeol had nearly died right then and there. That would’ve been absurd, wouldn’t it, if he had actually had a heart attack because of the very man who was meant to keep him out of harm’s way.</p>
<p>Yixing had slowed down on the treadmill, Chanyeol dimly realised, and he was looking right at Chanyeol with a curious tilt of his head and a soft smile. </p>
<p>“You’re staring,” he said, and Chanyeol swallowed. The dumbbell lay long-forgotten by his side.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” he mumbled, his brain having decided to have a meltdown. <em> Sorry</em>? </p>
<p>“Not to worry,” Yixing said cheerfully. “It’s okay to space out. I do it all the time.”</p>
<p>Chanyeol didn’t believe that for a second, but he had no time to say so because Yixing had pulled off the wifebeater to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and oh –</p>
<p>So fucked. Chanyeol was so, so fucked.</p>
<p>(By life and not by Yixing, which really was a tragedy.)</p>
<p>🔫</p>
<p>“Here.”</p>
<p>Chanyeol looked at Yixing’s hand and the small… flower? that lay in his palm. It was of metal, and Chanyeol lifted his gaze to stare nonplussed at Yixing.</p>
<p>Yixing smiled, that soft smile of his that sent Chanyeol’s heart careening dangerously close to a cardiac arrest. “Something beautiful can come from anything if you’re willing to look for it.”</p>
<p>Chanyeol reluctantly (because Yixing’s face was carved by a god, <em> surely</em>) dragged his eyes back to the flower. It seemed… almost like…</p>
<p>“It’s a bullet?” Chanyeol wondered.</p>
<p>“The bullet that went through my shoulder,” Yixing said, sounding entirely too cheerful about that. “Don’t blame yourself, Chanyeol. If my shoulder hurting a little bit is the price I must pay to keep you safe, I will do it gladly.”</p>
<p>The way Yixing looked at him, Chanyeol thought as Yixing took his hand and turned it palm-up to deposit the bullet flower, was… possibly adoring?</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Chanyeol said dumbly.</p>
<p>🔫</p>
<p>“Once you no longer require our protection,” Yixing said as he brushed his thumb across Chanyeol’s knuckles, “I will ask you out on a date. But until then I must stay professional for fear of my personal involvement and feelings compromising your safety in a time of need.”</p>
<p>“I look forward to it,” Chanyeol said, and the cheeky smile Yixing aimed at him –</p>
<p>Oh, <em> once </em>could not come sooner.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bonus info: Yixing, on the very evening of Chanyeol being ‘released’ from the witness protection programme (because that is what this is, although I don’t think South Korea has that so we’re just making shit up as per usual), turns up on Chanyeol’s doorstep with another bullet flower, a smile, and an offer to take Chanyeol to dinner in a week or two once Chanyeol has returned to his actual apartment and had time to settle down.</p>
<p>Chanyeol probably can’t wait that long, but hey, it’s the thought that counts. Or something.</p>
<p>I knew at the start that I wanted to write something with the Witness Protection Programme, but I didn't know... *what* exactly, so I procrastinated for a bit until I had to quickly find a picture for the poster thingy, at which point I was inspired by the bullet flowers and the fic wrote itself. WHOO.</p>
<p>THANK YOU for reading -- and thank you to the mods for being patient with my sorry ass ❤</p></blockquote></div></div>
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